When Kendrick Lamar‘s latest studio album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers arrived and subsequently took over the music landscape in May, it was made public that the pgLang head honcho was kicking back in Ghana to celebrate.
“This life sh*t is all about an experience, everybody got their own different experience,” K-Dot said in his Spotify exclusive short film.
Visiting Ghana for the very first time, Spotify released a four-minute long compilation of clips of Kendrick’s trip on June 17, where he played soccer, skated, hit the beach and most importantly, familiarized himself with the locals.
Pure love in Ghana with @kendricklamar 🇬🇭 Catch all the moments in our mini-doc now https://t.co/FmDM5TiFuj pic.twitter.com/SoKGJXDzgB
— Spotify (@Spotify) June 17, 2022
Kendrick in Ghana ahead of the release of 'Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers' 🇬🇭 pic.twitter.com/Gbx423RKx4
— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) May 12, 2022
“I couldn’t even tell you what day it is, I’ve just been in the moment,” he said.
Joining him on his trip to the coastal capital of Accra was a group of the people closest to him, such as his wife Whitney Alford and their kids, his longtime business partner and co-founder of pgLang Dave Free and Renell Medrano, the woman responsible for the album’s cover art.
When talking about the Freedom Skatepark, which was established mostly thanks to the late Virgil Abloh, Kendrick explained how he spoke to the Ghanian children about “how it makes them feel to be over here and Virgil and what he means to them as far as letting them have this creative space for them to enjoy themselves.”
Kendrick Lamar makes a visit to the Freedom skatepark in Accra, Ghana 🛹 pic.twitter.com/dUaT64STjc
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) May 15, 2022
Throughout he video, Kendrick discusses his relationship with therapy, which was one of the most prominent themes throughout the album, which he referred to as his most present body of work.
“I’ma keep it 100 with you, (therapy) wasn’t my forte when people mentioned it to me. I’m still stuck how my pops thinks. ‘F**k you need therapy for?'” he said. “To challenge myself to go to therapy, sh*t that’s like a whole new step in a whole new generation. That’s growth.”
Last night (June 20), Kendrick also gave a speech at Spotify’s Cannes Lions Party in France, but the extent and content of his speech is currently unknown.
King Kendrick went crazy at our Cannes party last night 👑 #SpotifyCannes pic.twitter.com/Qi7ZzQtWxX
— Spotify (@Spotify) June 21, 2022
Kendrick’s time in Ghana seemed to be a freeing experience for him, as he explicitly mentioned he was getting away from the critics and think-pieces on Twitter that would arise thanks to his new album.
Check out ‘A Day in Ghana with Kendrick Lamar’ below!